---
title: "FreeBSD 12.4 Release Process"
sidenav: download
---

:localRel: 12.4
:localBranchStable: stable/12
:localBranchReleng: releng/12.4

include::shared/en/urls.adoc[]

= FreeBSD {localRel} Release Process

== Introduction

This is the release schedule for FreeBSD {localRel}. For more information about the release engineering process, please see the link:../../../releng/[Release Engineering] section of the web site.

General discussions about the pending release and known issues should be sent to the public mailto:FreeBSD-stable@FreeBSD.org[freebsd-stable] mailing list.
link:{handbook}#mfc-glossary[MFC] requests are no longer being accepted.

//link:{handbook}#mfc-glossary[MFC] requests should be sent to link:mailto:re@FreeBSD.org[re@FreeBSD.org] following the link:https://wiki.freebsd.org/Releng/ChangeRequestGuidelines[Change Request Guidelines].

== Schedule

[.tblbasic]
[cols=",,,",options="header",]
|===
|Action |Expected |Actual |Description
|Initial release schedule announcement |- |19 August 2022 |Release Engineers send announcement email to developers with a rough schedule.
|Release schedule reminder |30 September 2022 |29 September 2022 |Release Engineers send reminder announcement e-mail to developers with updated schedule.
|Code slush begins |7 October 2022 |7 October 2022 |Release Engineers announce that all further commits to the {localBranchStable} branch will not require explicit approval, however new features should be avoided.
|{localBranchReleng} branch |21 October 2022 |20 October 2022 |{localBranchReleng} branch created; future release engineering proceeds on this branch.
|BETA1 builds begin |21 October 2022 |21 October 2022 |First beta test snapshot.
|RC1 builds begin |4 November 2022 |4 November 2022 |First release candidate.
|RC2 builds begin |11 November 2022 |11 November 2022 |Second release candidate.
|RELEASE builds begin |30 November 2022 |30 November 2022 |{localRel}-RELEASE builds begin.
|RELEASE announcement |5 December 2022 |5 December 2022 |{localRel}-RELEASE press release.
|Turn over to the secteam |- |- |{localBranchReleng} branch is handed over to the FreeBSD Security Officer Team in one or two weeks after the announcement.
|===

"*" indicates "as-needed" items.

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== Status / TODO
link:todo/[FreeBSD Release Engineering TODO Page]
////

== Additional Information

* link:../../../releng/[FreeBSD Release Engineering website]
